After three days of intense bidding, the IPL media rights numbers are jaw-dropping. The media rights, which include four packages, for a period of next five years have so far been sold for Rs 48390 crore.
Disney Star bagged the television rights for Rs 23,575 crore, while Viacom made a winning bid of Rs 20,500 crore for the digital rights. More surprising numbers came for the digital rights of 18 non-exclusive games per season, which Viacom also bagged for Rs 3,258 crore. BCCI will get Rs 1057 crore from rest of the world rights.
The amount is astronomical and has seen huge investment in digital rights. Viacom acquired the digital rights for 410 matches proposed under Package B and 98 non-exclusive matches under Package C for a period of 5 years.
For a period of 5 years, each of the 98 non-exclusive sports will cost Rs 33.24 crore. Therefore, Viacom will have to pay Rs 23,758 crore for the digital rights under Packages B and C.
Now how much will each IPL match cost in this five year cycle?
Considering the base price of Package D, the combined cost of all the four packages would be at least Rs 48,390 crore. The total number of games proposed in the five-year cycle is 410, which means Rs 118 crore will be spent on each game.
The numbers may surprise many but the growth and popularity of IPL ensures that it keeps getting bigger and bigger, irrespective of the economic health of the country and the world.
The Indian Premier League has seen an exponential growth since its existence in 2008…
For the first 10-year cycle, the cost of each game was Rs 13.6 crore, which rose to Rs 55 crore per game between 2018 and 2022. And now, every game will cost broadcasters 118 crores.
These mind-boggling numbers have propelled the brand IPL ahead of most leagues globally, including the English Premier League.
With IPL now the question is not how, but how much.